Texans Saving Energy and Cash in Net-Zero Homes

Sustainable Homes of Texas President Darrel McMaster calls the house he built last year in the Texas hill country outside San Antonio “the greenest house in America” because it received the highest verified green building standard score ever given by the National Association of Home Builders . After rebates, the cost of that green score was approximately 9.5 percent above the house’s market price. “Their house was about $450,000,” McMaster said. “They had to increase their mortgage around $42,000.” But that’s not the whole story, he insisted. “Dr. Fulton is a math professor at Texas State. He ran the numbers,” McMaster explained. The numbers: $871.96 in utility and fuel cost monthly savings means the $42,300 mortgage increase will be paid off in 48.5 months. And according to Dr. Fulton, McMaster reported, since the first eight to nine years of any 30-year mortgage is inter...